6.1 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Offshore Cuba; Tremors Felt In Florida

Havana: While the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that occurred in western Cuba on Monday shook buildings in Havana, the tremors were felt as far as Florida.

No injuries or damage were immediately reported.

According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers in the waters west of Havana.

Flavia Pupo, manager of the Pinar del Rio hotel in western Cuba, described how the building shook and caused panic.

“Everyone here is fine,” he said over the phone. “People on the street are a little scared.”

The latest earthquake was felt as far away as Florida. The National Weather Service in Miami said in a tweet that it had received multiple reports of tremors in the southwestern part of the state. Multiple social media posts Monday afternoon showed people were shivering even north of Orlando.

Maria Moncayo, who works at a law firm in downtown Fort Lauderdale, said she began to feel a vibration while working quietly at her desk. He likened it to someone doing construction in another part of the building, and it went on for about a minute.

Moncayo said he experienced many earthquakes while living in Ecuador, including the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed hundreds of people in 2016. But he hasn’t experienced an earthquake like this since moving to Florida seven years ago.

“It’s been on my mind since I moved here, but when I felt my desk moving, I thought it would be like Ecuador,” Moncayo said. “It kind of gave me flashbacks but then I realized it wasn’t bad, it was just a little thing.”

Miami-Dade County officials announced they were evacuating several buildings out of an abundance of caution, including the county’s main government building, a 28-story high-rise in downtown Miami.

Authorities also temporarily suspended service on two elevated commuter trains passing through the city centre. No injuries or major property damage were reported.

William Barnhart, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, described Monday’s earthquake as extremely rare. This is the largest earthquake recorded with modern instruments in the Gulf of Mexico, dating back to the 1950s. “This is one of five or six earthquakes of magnitude or greater that we know of in the entire Gulf.”

This earthquake did not create any tsunami. Barnhart noted that destructive ocean waves created by earthquakes and other underwater disturbances are more common in the Pacific Ocean but can also occur in the Atlantic. Barnhart said there could be some strong aftershocks in western Cuba, but they are unlikely to be felt in Florida.

“The chance that a larger earthquake will follow is always very, very small, and people will feel it,” Barnhart said. “But people in Florida shouldn’t expect to feel a lot of shaking from the aftershocks that occur.”

The Oriente fault zone is located just off the southeast coast of Cuba and has caused damaging earthquakes in recent centuries, including a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck open waters in January 2020 and caused damage in Cuba and the Cayman Islands. (AP)ARB

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